Gustaf Fröding

Who was Gustaf Fröding?

Gustaf Fröding was a Swedish poet and writer, born in Alster outside Karlstad in Värmland. The family moved to Kristinehamn in the year 1867. He later studied at Uppsala University and worked as a journalist in Karlstad.

His poetry combines formal virtuosity with a sympathy for the ordinary, the neglected and the down-trodden. It is highly musical and lends itself to musical setting; as songs it has developed into the much wider world of popular music and frequently been re-recorded by Swedish singers like Olle Adolphson, Monica Zetterlund, the Värmland group Sven-Ingvars and recently the Swedish band Mando Diao on their album Infruset. Gustaf wrote openly about his personal problems with alcohol and women and had to face a trial for obscenity for that cause.

He is generally held to be one of the greatest poets of verse that Sweden has ever produced.